As per usual, this story is based on characters created by the superbly talented Martha Williamson. They are most definitely not mine.

This is the finale of Higher Ground. This is what we waited for, for years.

I'm more than aware that this movie is everybody's favourite, so I certainly didn't want to ruin it.

Again, my sincere thanks go to my dear friend Rhonda Leighton Wronski for her amazing support and input.

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Higher Ground - Part III

Oliver took the steps down from Shane's front porch as if somebody had kicked him in the gut. He was still a little confused how things had ended that way. They'd had a most amazing date. They talked and laughed the whole evening and time just flew. And the kiss on the steps of the jazz club… had it really happened or had it just been a figment of his imagination? Everything was just perfect… until Steve!

Steve had turned up out of the blue and ruined the whole evening. Oliver was still stunned at how unlucky he was when it came to completing a first date with Shane.

At the bottom of the steps he paused briefly. He heard the squeak of the porch swing as if Steve was mocking him. Steve had won this round with a last minute penalty goal.

He couldn't help his broken-hearted. He knew it was going to be a long 3 or 4 weeks. They were finally getting past any awkwardness and moving forward in their relationship… He felt like punching something, preferably with Steve's face attached to it.

Monday morning as he arrived at work, his dad was there with some vegetables from his community garden. Rita asked him to sign some paperwork and when he reached inside his pocket, he realised his pen was missing. He remembered then why and who had it now. He wondered if everything was going to be a reminder of Shane or rather her painful absence.

He told Joe that he had kissed Shane towards the end of their "unprecedented" date but it had been brief. Joe suggested "next time you have a chance of kissing her, son, take your time."

Oliver was used to waiting for the women in his life to return, this wasn't the first time but it was certainly the most painful. Why was he more heartbroken with Shane's absence than Holly's? Could it be because he actually loved Shane? Hadn't he loved Holly? Or was it because Shane actually loved him back? He had no doubt that Shane loved him more than Holly had. So, why did she leave? She had told him she had no plans to leave. Why did she go then?

Oliver allowed himself to once again wallow in despair and self-pity; he was going down the same rabbit-hole he had been in before. His focus at work was half-hearted. The office was receiving the same amount of dead letters as always but they were not being processed as usual. Norman and Rita went without much supervision as they focused more on "Charlene", their pet potato than work. The place was in utter shambles. Every surface was taken with piles upon piles of dead letters. The only area free from clutter was Shane's desk which Oliver was treating like a shrine.

Help came from through a most unlikely source: Ramon! He opened his home to his friends, Oliver, Norman, Rita and Joe for poker nights. That certainly helped Oliver focus on something else beside his own pain. They also found Gabe through a suggestion offered by Ramon using music. It worked! By locating Gabe, Oliver got a good injection of enthusiasm for his work once again. With renewed interest things started to move along at a somewhat "normal "pace once more.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months until one day Oliver couldn't look at Shane's desk anymore. It was exactly the same as the Paris box all over again and he'd had enough. He got up resolutely and moved it out of the way. He was no longer going to be tortured by the constant reminder that she wasn't there, that she had left just like Holly. That she wasn't a part of this office anymore and maybe never would be again.

That night at poker, his emotions got the better of him and before he embarrassed himself by crying in front of his friends, he quickly got up and walked to the patio outside of Ramon's apartment.

Norman was moved by the love he felt for his friend and followed him outside. Oliver was in deep despair and confessed to Norman that he didn't know what to do. They talked about Gabe singing on the steps of the capital building every week for 12 years waiting for Hattie, which Oliver then described as the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Norman then subtly told Oliver that it was time for him to try doing something different about his own situation.

Norman was really a very wise person!

There was no time to waste! He was going to Langley to find Shane or find out about her. The time for waiting was over; it was now time for action!

He arrived at the impressive government building in Washington, DC and registered as a visitor to see Steve Marek. He was asked to wait. Within less than 5 minutes, he was on his way out after being informed that Steve was out of the country. Before he could reach the exit doors, he heard his name called by none other than Steve! He turned! "I was told you were out of the country."

"If you come without an appointment, I'm out of the country."

"Where's Shane?"

"She's out of the country."

"You promised me you would keep her safe."

"She is safe."

"How do you know, when she's out of the country? Or you are. Who exactly is in the country?"

"Okay… Oliver…"

"Mr. Marek, I have an employee who hasn't reported to work for 3 months with no paperwork to support her absence. Unless you can provide compelling reason to the contrary, I would like my employee back."

"You can't have her back. She's critical to the mission."

"Oh, I bet she is." Oliver was dripping with sarcasm.

By now Steve was quite surprised by how snarky Oliver had become. It was certainly a side of Oliver that he hadn't seen before… until now.

"Look, I understand your situation…"

"No, you don't…" Oliver snapped!

At that very moment, Shane stepped out of the elevator and Oliver saw her. "And that situation has changed."

Shane's heart skipped a beat as she saw Oliver. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him and never let him go. But he looked at her most sternly. He was angry!

As they walked down the long and wide corridor, they talked about her extended absence. She tried to explain to him that Steve had told her that she still had a very important job to do and he would tell her when it was finished. Oliver was unconvinced! She was not able to reason with him and he simply got angrier, especially when he realised she had a cell phone on her. He asked for his pen back and started to storm out of there when he had a slight change of heart.

"What would you say if I had a friend here in Washington, a highly placed official with the USPS Division of Cyber Security who informed me that the crisis which occurred 3 months ago was resolved over 3 weeks ago and the release of all emergency consulting assets such as yourself was at the sole discretion of your team leader?"

"If that were true, Steve would let me go home."

"Why would a man who obviously cares so much about you, let you go if he didn't have to?" Oliver asked her almost pleading.

"I ask myself that all the time."

But Oliver couldn't lie to her and confessed that he had made that story up, he had been bluffing about the highly placed official.

"I can't lie to you…" He looked at her affectionately for the first time. "I'm just wondering if Steve can." And with that he turned and walked away.

Shane was left speechless and confused. However, her lack of words didn't last long. She marched to Steve's office and confronted him immediately.

"Tell me the truth; am I here because you need me or because you want me?"

Steve knew he had been caught and tried to lead Shane away from his deception. There was no better way than trivialising Oliver's efforts.

"What kind of a guy flies all the way down here and then leaves without getting what he came for?"

"The kind of man who lets me make up my own mind."

His subterfuge was finally found out and he knew it. He proceeded by belittling the job that they did in Denver and the porch swing that Oliver had so lovingly given her. He finally admitted that the crisis was over and he could shut down her part of the operations but he didn't want to because he was still in love with her.

Shane's righteous anger could no longer be contained. He had lied to her for weeks on end and taken her for a fool. She simply turned on him and slapped his face with all the strength she could muster. She finally said with gritted teeth "if you trespass on my front porch, ever again, I will call the police and have you arrested. You are beneath contempt, Steve, and I despise you."

Oliver walked all night and ended up in the DLO as that was the only place on earth he could find the peace he sought. Since he had arrived back in Denver, the night before bringing Hattie with him, he couldn't stop thinking about Shane. He was once again heartbroken. Another woman had abandoned him.

He stopped by the fridge, grabbed a yoohoo and sighed deeply. He was tired, maybe of life itself!

He took a step away from the fridge and then he saw it, sitting there where it belonged: Shane's desk…and her handbag! He turned and saw her coat hanging by his hat. He stood planted, unable to move. His chair turned and there she was, looking at him, a vision! The most beautiful woman in the world was sitting in his chair: Shane!

She gave him a sad, half smile and started to read his recipes on kombucha smoothies. Oliver knew she was stalling so they could both gather their thoughts. Then they moved to talking about her roses and finally she asked about her desk being moved.

"You moved my desk."

"It was… ah… temporary… ah… I mean… ah… it was…"

"Steve says you never say what you mean." "He said that?" "Mnnnn hmmmm" "Well, I have quite a few very sincere things to say about Steve."

"He's not a bad guy, he's just… competitive." Oliver nodded, "I won the high school Regional Chess championship 3 years in a row,"

"So, you mean you're competitive too."

"Didn't I just say that?" "Almost!" "Almost?"

Shane was getting a bit tired of the tiptoeing and she wanted to get to the point. "And tell me again why you moved my desk?" Oliver then knew he might as well tell her why, as she wasn't going to drop it, in fact she already knew. "It was hard to look at it every day."

"So, you mean, you missed me."

"I mean what I say when I say it. Although I don't always say what I mean, when I do say it, I mean it. For example when once I told you that I wished our first date wouldn't be the last, that was a true and transparent statement that, if we ever actually completed a first date, would subsequently have been borne out in action. Assuming you were in agreement, which, given your extended absence, you might understand my assumption that your intentions and mine were not in concert."

Shane had enough. "If you're suggesting that I didn't miss you… and I might be the only person on earth who understands what you just said."

She walked past him and grabbed the letters that she had written to him but was never able to mail.

She started to summarise them and then the memory of everything that she had been through was starting to overwhelm her. She was losing it!

As she finished summarising the letters and turned back to her desk in utter disbelief that he had moved it; unable to hold out any longer, Oliver grabbed her hand, spun her around and kissed her, deeply and passionately. They held on to each other. The fingers of her left hand dug gently into his hair on the back of his head and he pressed her closer to him removing any open space between them.

The letters fell to the ground, forgotten for the time being.

All the waiting, the longing, the pent-up emotions that both had kept locked up for years were released in those kisses.

They spent the whole night reading the letters, kissing, talking... then kissing, laughing, crying and kissing some more.

Their reunion was as sweet as they had hoped for.

God was still in his universe and all was right in the world!